Casablanca Conference, 14–21 January 1943. Left to right, General Henri Giraud, President Roosevelt, General Charles de Gaulle, and Prime Minister Churchill. (National Archives).
easily capitalized on the many Allied landing problems. Obviously, the U.S. Army and its Allies would have to overcome these problems before undertaking more ambitious amphibious operations.
Most of the Army's problems during Torch occurred in the ship-to-shore phase of landings, when amphibious forces are most vulnerable. The whole idea of night landings had to be reexamined. While the transfer of troops and equipment from transports to landing boats could be accomplished with only moderate difficulty in darkness, the shuttling of boats between transports and beaches after their first trip ashore became a source of delays. Boats returning to transports had
29
